 An analysis of the nutritional status of left-behind children in rural China and the impact mechanisms of child malnutritionYichao Wu and Zhenli Guo Children and Youth Services Review, 2020, vol. 119, issue C Abstract: With the rapid process of urbanization in China, a large wave of rural labor force has migrated to cities, leaving their children behind in villages. As a new vulnerable group, left-behind children’s nutrition is facing more uncertainties. This paper investigates how left-behind status affects child malnutrition including stunting and underweight, using China Health and Nutrition Survey datasets (2004–2015). The multivariate regression results show that children (0–15 years) with mother working out suffer higher hazards of stunting and underweight than non-left-behind children, which highlights the essential role of mother as a caregiver. In addition, this study also employs the structural equation model to illustrate the multilevel impact mechanisms. Child individual factors (age, gender) and parental genetic factors (height, weight) have direct effects on child stunting and underweight rates, whereas parents’ educational attainment influences indirectly through the mediator of family income and household living facilities. Keywords: Left-behind children; Stunting; Underweight; Impact mechanism (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:119:y:2020:i:c:s0190740920320211 DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105598 Access Statistics for this article Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier |
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